The Game

The Game is the latest opus from David Fincher, who could hardly do anything but disappoint after the disturbing "Seven". The Game is indeed more mainstream, but it has a gripping plot, provided you go along with the joke. Do not take your sense of logic into the cinema with you.

Nicholas Van Orton is an immensely rich businessman who leads a predictable solitary existence. Fincher hints that Nicholas's accidentally witnessing his father's suicide as a boy has made him afraid of getting emotionally involved with others, which later led to his divorce from his otherwise understanding wife. The only person Nicholas sees privately is his brother Conrad, who as a birthday present gives him a gift voucher for a company that sells unconventional and challenging experiences. Soon Nicholas is caught up in a game that he apparently cannot stop. As his very existence comes under threat, he can no longer believe that it is all just a game. Is it a criminal organisation behind it, out to swindle him out of his money? The solution is simple but completely unrealistic. Fortunately it is only afterwards that you ponder the film's lack of logic and realism.